Had a great morning at Mountain Valley Church!  We studied Ephesians 1:3-14 and were reminded how blessed we are as believers because of what God the Father has done for us through Jesus and the Holy Spirit.  I am so excited to be studying this incredible book and look forward to what God is going to teach us in the future.

It was nice to have Dr. Hugh Richardson (our Director of Missions for the Shelby Baptist Association) and his wife and son visit us this morning.  Dr. and Mrs. Richardson are such wonderful supporters of church planting and I’m grateful for all of their help.

We had an interesting guest this morning who was using the library’s free wifi to surf the internet.  We invited him inside to make himself at home and shared the Gospel with him.  I’ve noticed a growing number of people sitting outside the library with laptops.  I dream of a “third place” like a coffee shop or internet cafe’ where people can come and find a community of Christ followers to mingle with….  Join with me in praying that God will open an opportunity for our church to be a more permanent part of the community.  Several buildings have become vacant in the city, but all are asking outrageous prices to buy.

Praying that you’ll have a great week!

Photo by jem

I am so fired up about what happened in Montevallo last week.  You see, we had two incredible mission groups partner with Mountain Valley Church to reach our community for Christ.  Families on Mission and MFuge teams joined forces with church members to do everything from landscaping to Bible sport clinics to show the love of Christ.

Here’s a list of the projects that were accomplished last week:

• Prayer walking throughout the community
• Landscaping at the Montevallo Housing Authority
• Landscaping at Montevallo Elementary School
• Christian Sports Clinic at park near Montevallo Middle School
• Landscaping at Montevallo Senior Citizen’s Center
• Activities with seniors at Senior Citizen’s Center
• Activities with children at Boys and Girls Club
• Landscaping at Parnell Memorial Library
• Window cleaning for merchants along Main Street
• Window cleaning at City Hall
• Food delivery
• Door to door witnessing and prayer
• Garbage pickup at park near Montevallo Middle School
• Prayer with city officials

It was an incredible time that God used to rekindle the desire I have to reach this community for Christ!  I was blessed to work with wonderful missionaries who gave up part of their summer to come and work with a small church with a big vision for building the kingdom of God.

I’m so proud of our church members who worked hard alongside the mission teams.  They coordinated each project and made sure that supplies and refreshments were available.  Most members took vacation and worked on multiple projects throughout the week.

We made many meaningful contacts last week and I ask that you pray that we can continue to build relationships with these people in the future.  We were reminded of the many hurting people in our world who are lost without Jesus.

We had an incredible Easter service at Mountain Valley!  I’m so thankful for the hard work that our volunteers invested in setting up for worship, ministering to guests, teaching the children, and leading in worship.  I pray that we won’t let the celebration of Jesus’ birth, death, and resurrection fade.  Join us this Sunday as we continue our series called “Hope”.  We’ll look at how to have the abundant life that Jesus promised us even in difficult times.

We had an interesting morning yesterday at Mountain Valley Church.  I didn’t set our alarm clock right and we got up late.  I had the trailer so I made everyone else late setting up.  The laptop was cranky and our projection software crashed while we were getting ready.  Our worship leader was out and Hannah and Jeremy (awesome folks in our praise team) were leading the music.  We were singing a new song and the lyrics I had entered the night before mysteriously disappeared.  The sound wouldn’t play for the video illustration I wanted to use.  Jeremy broke a guitar string and didn’t have a replacement.  Oliver’s guitar wouldn’t tune correctly.  I got up to welcome everyone and my microphone caused feedback that nearly made our ears bleed.

I was so blessed when Hannah stopped before one of the songs to give a heartfelt testimony about what they had experienced that morning.  It was rough for them, but she reminded us that we should remember how great God really is.  She said that it reminded her that we can’t do anything on our own.  She challenged us to sing out in praise to our Lord.  It was a tender moment that was met with many tears and amens.  We sang Amazing Grace (My Chains are Gone) next and the Holy Spirit really moved.  I prayed and asked God’s glory to come down.  I was reminded that we don’t need microphones, projection software, or even instruments to worship.  It was a powerful, moving time.

I firmly believe that Satan wanted to crush us Sunday morning.  Spiritual warfare is real and we must be prepared to fight it.  We serve a God that is greater than anything Satan can throw our way.  We can overcome anything Satan throws our way.  I’m blessed to be able to serve Him.  Praise the Lord!!

1 John 4:4

We had an incredible time with Rush of Fools last night at the University of Montevallo’s Palmer Auditorium.  We’ve been planning this for nearly a year it was a huge success!  I am so grateful for Lance’s hard work in pulling everything together.  It would not have gotten done without him.  I’m also grateful for the hard working volunteers from Mountain Valley and Baptist Campus Ministries who did everything from selling tickets to tearing down equipment.

We enjoyed nearly two hours of worship and heard songs from ROF’s first album and songs from their upcoming album “Wonder of the World.”  The CD is coming out September 19th.  I highly recommend you pick up a copy.  I really enjoyed “Undo”, “We All”, and “Can’t Get Away”, “All We Ever Needed”, and their new song “Freedom.”

These guys are so talented, but I think I was more impressed with their humble, enthusiastic spirit.  They weren’t concerned with accolades during their introduction, but said they wanted to serve our church and worship God.  We had church at Palmer Auditorium and lives were touched.  We had the privilege of praying with several people about issues they were facing in their life.

I really enjoyed talking to Wes and Kevin about their passion for addressing the terrible problem of pornography and sexual addiction.  They are incredibly bold about a topic that most people shy away from.  Their partnership with Freedom Begins Here is exposing a problem that is rampant inside the church.  Statistics say that 50% of Christian men and 20% of Christian women are struggling with pornography and sexual addiction.  Please join me in praying that these young men will have a powerful impact on the lives of the many people who listen to their music.

Most importantly, I believe we made many connections with students on campus.  Our church has a huge burden for these young men and women.  I pray that we can impact them in a positive way during one of the most critical times of their life.  Please pray for our church as we follow up with contacts and share the gospel of Jesus Christ.

I’m grateful for Wes, JD, Jamie, Kevin, and Jacob and pray that God will continue to bless their ministry.  Keep up the good work guys!

We had a great time putting on our first Fall Festival yesterday.  We had two inflatables, games, pumpkin carving, and marshmallow/hot dog roasting.  It was exciting to see the community turn out and to meet a lot of new people.  We canvassed four apartment complexes around the library on Saturday and got many positive responses.  I’m so thankful for the Upward Bound program who provided 15 or so volunteers.  We couldn’t have done it without them!  I’m so proud of our church!  I pray that God will bless all those who worked very hard to make it happen.

I thought that I’d give you an idea of what’s going through my head after an incredible day at church…  We were blessed to have Dr. Hugh Richardson (Director of Missions for the Shelby Baptist Association) and his family as our guests today.  Dr. Richardson presented a $25,000 grant check from the Alabama Baptist State Board of Missions to be used toward the purchase of a piece of land on Highway 22.  God has really worked through the many partnerships that have helped to make our church a reality.  We are thankful for Westwood Baptist Church (our parent church), the Shelby Baptist Association, the Alabama Baptist State Board of Missions, the North American Mission Board, and Developing Churches Network.  All of these entities have helped us one way or another and made so many things possible.  I can’t imagine trying to do things on our own.  We have seen first hand the power of believers working toward the common goal of winning this world for Jesus Christ!

The Mountain Valley Church family surprised me with a pastor appreciation lunch at Myra’s house.  We had a great time of food and fun!  I’m not sure if Myra’s dog, Thelma, will ever be the same after the kids chased her around the yard!  It is such a privilege to work with saints at Mountain Valley!  This core group of people have worked tirelessly over the last year to make the church a reality.  I don’t really know how to process their appreciation for me in light of all they’ve done.  I feel so honored to be working along side men and women who have committed to one of the hardest tasks I have ever undertaken.  I look forward to the days ahead.  I know that God has big things planned for a congregation that is so dedicated to Him.

We kicked off our LifeGroup study on The Peacemaking Church that coincides with the sermon series I’m preaching.  I’ve been so convicted that I need to learn how to properly handle conflict.  I pray that our church will be a haven of peace for a troubled world.

Well, have a great week!